PH urges intl tribunal to rule on protection of marine environment by Unclos states

THE Philippines has urged the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (Itlos) to rule that States parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) have obligations to protect and preserve the marine environment from climate change.

The Philippine legal team, led by Ambassador Carlos Sorreta, Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, on September 19 delivered a one-hour presentation of the legal, political and scientific basis for its arguments.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the team cited the statement of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. at last year's UN General Assembly (UNGA) that «climate change is the greatest threat affecting our nations and peoples.»

The Philippines said that to address climate change, States have the «binding obligations, among others, not to harm the marine environment through greenhouse gas emissions.»

Unclos signatories should also «enact and enforce measures to prevent marine pollution and protect and preserve the marine environment from the effects of climate change,» the Philippines said.

It further submitted that Unclos is an important and indispensable legal instrument in the fight against climate change.

Manila stressed that «while climate change was not yet a prominent concern during the negotiations and adoption of Unclos in 1982, there is no other way to interpret its provisions without taking into account climate change and its effects on the marine environment.»

It added that in the field of international environmental law, various international agreements on environmental protection «build upon each other to create a normative synergy between past, present and future agreements.»

The Philippines, along with other